European Commissioners on Wednesday approved a proposal to relocate 40,000 newly arrived Syrian and Etritrean refugees from Italy and Greece to northern Europe over the next two years.
A total 24,000 refugees will be redistributed from Italy and 16,000 from Greece under the proposal aimed at easing the impact of the Mediterranean migration crisis on the two countries.
A majority of national governments must approve the plan, under which the EU would for the first time activate an emergency response mechanism in EU treaties to deal with a "sudden inflow" of migrants.
The votes of larger countries will count more than those of smaller ones in the qualified majority vote.
Germany, France and Spain would take in most of these asylum seekers under the proposal and host countries will receive a 6,000 lump sum for each relocated person from extra funds earmarked from the EU budget.
The two nationalities - Syrian and Eritrean - have been chosen because they had a 75 percent asylum-recognition rate across the EU last year.
The asylum seekers who are relocated will have to have arrive after the proposal is approved, which could be by late June.
Italy saw a 277 percent rise in the number of migrants crossing its borders in 2014 from the previous year - 60 percent of the EU total, according to the European Commission.
Greece saw an increase of 153 percent last year - 19 percent of the total irregular border crossings, the Commission noted.
The UK, Ireland and Denmark have signed accords with the EU exempting them from common asylum policies and several countries have reacted coolly to the proposal to redistribute refugees.
